Citation
Abstract
The North America Array (NAA) is a concept for a radio astronomical interferometric array operating in the 1.2 GHz to 116 GHz frequency range. It has been designed to provide substantial improvements in sensitivity, angular resolution, and frequency coverage beyond the current Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA). It will have a continuous frequency coverage of 1.2 GHz to 50 GHz and 70 to 116 GHz, and a total aperture 10 times more sensitive than the VLA (and 25 times more sensitive than a 34-m-diameter antenna of the Deep Space Network [DSN]). One of the key goals for the NAA is to reduce the operating costs without sacrificing performance. We are designing an ultra-wideband receiver package designed to operate across the 8–48 GHz frequency range in contrast to the current VLA, which covers this frequency range with five receiver packages. Reducing the number of receiving systems required to cover the full frequency range would reduce operating costs. To minimize implementation, operational, and maintenance costs, we are developing a receiver that is compact, simple to assemble, and that consumes less power. The objective of this work is to develop a prototype integrated feed-receiver package with a sensitivity performance comparable to current narrower-band systems on radio telescopes and the DSN, but with a design that meets the requirement of low long-term operational costs. The ultra-wideband receiver package consists of a feedhorn, low-noise amplifier (LNA), and downconverters to analog intermediate frequencies. Both the feedhorn and the LNA are cryogenically cooled. Key features of this design are a quad-ridge feedhorn with dielectric loading and a cryogenic receiver with a noise temperature of no more than 30 K at the low end of the band. In this article, we report on the status of this receiver package development, including the feed design and LNA implementation. We present simulation studies of the feed horn carried out to optimize illumination efficiencies across the band of interest. In addition, we show experimental results of low-noise 70-nm gallium arsenide, metamorphic high-electron-mobility-transistor (HEMT) amplifier testing performed across the 1–18 GHz frequency range. Also presented are 8–48 GHz simulation results for 35-nm indium phosphide HEMT amplifiers.
Details
- Volume
- 42-207
- Published
- November 15, 2016
- Pages
- 1–9
- File Size
- 2.0 MB